I did a safe boot to boot faster.
Checked the login items-- only ituneshelper loads at startup.
Checked the activity monitor-- the CPU is NOT pegged. Only 2-3% for the activity monitor itself and nothing else.

I know he'd previously taken it to the Genius Bar and they'd reinstalled Snow Leopard. He has the HDD, not SSD, so it's possible the drive is failing, although the OS is still booting, just very slowly.

The only thing I can think of is to reinstall Combo Update 10.6.4, which I've read has fixed slow boots for some people. Or I could fix permissions/ run the weekly cron.

Staff Member

Run Disk Utility. Sounds like the HD is going bad, I would try doing a clean install of OS X. After that, try booting from USB drive (install OS X in external HD) to see is the HD the problem. If he doesn't have an external HD, then just think about replacing the HD straightaway

MacRumors attracts a broad audience
of both consumers and professionals interested in
the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on
purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms.